>> arthel: we begin with a fox news weather alert. severe storms battering the northeast. i'm arthel neville. >> rick: i'm rick folbaum. glad you're with us in our fox news extreme weather center. look at this, caught on tape in new york city, lightning and hail, flash flooding, power outages. and even more brand-new tornado warnings in the northeast as well. maria molina following all of this from the extreme weather center. i know you're hearing that there was some word of injuries in a county fair? >> that's right. we did the reports of injuries at a county fair in prince george area, basically across

parts of maryland. we had a warning. 12 injuries that reported from the national weather center, basically because people were trying to evacuate that area and they were injured doing that. please do so safely if you get a warning. keep that in mind as well. otherwise a brand-new tornado warning now in effect for southwestern parts of berkshire county in western massachusetts, right along the new york state-massachusetts border. extreme western massachusetts and getting reports now of power outages. keep in mind aside from the tornado risk, we also have damaging wind gusts that are possible with some of these thunderstorms and those can knock down tree branch, can knock down power lines and you would get power out annuals because of that. new york power company reporting that more than 7,000 customers now without power. i did see an article on the "washington post" stating that over 100,000 people now in the dc area and north parts of virginia with without power.

widespread power out annuals possible. we have more severe weather possible stretching from parts of new england all the way down into the carolinas. we have a number of severe weather watches and also tornado watches. aside from tornadoes, large hail, damaging wind gusts in excess of 60 miles an hour is possible, dangerous lightning and flash flooding and the culprit for all this is a large and strong cold front that's continuing to push eastward. bringing in a lot of heavy rain across parts of upstate new york, into parts of maryland and virginia, and you can see how far south some of those thunderstorms stretch into parts of the florida panhandle. otherwise here is a look how many severe weather watches we have in effect. most of them stretching into parts of later tonight, 11:00 p.m. is the latest one. severe thunderstorm watch. now one in particular does include southern parts of the state of maine. otherwise you can see currently actually no tornado warning. that earlier tornado warning for berkshire county has been allowed to expire. but all of the yellow boxes are severe thunderstorm warnings where you can see some of those

winds gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour. large area currently being impacted by some of that severe weather and i want to point out, typically we're talking about severe weather, much earlier in the year, during the months of april, may and june. now it's september and we're still dealing with the severe weather. on average you don't get a lot during the month of september, but it's not unheard of it and this particular front is very strong. very low humidity behind it. much cooler air and it's that clashing air masses, very warm humid air ahead of it, drier, cooler air behind it that cause this is explosive development of thunderstorms. that's why we're seeing severe weather. >> rick: keep us posted. thanks. >> arthel: politics now kicking into overdrive. both presidential candidates descending on key battle ground states in a post-convention campaign swing. on the right, president obama delivering remarks at a campaign

stop in kissimmee, florida. on the left, governor mitt romney addressing supporters in virginia beach before heading off to a second and final campaign stop in richmond, virginia. we are following both of those campaigns, of course. chief white house correspondent ed henry is traveling with the president in kissimmee. first, we begin with chief congressional correspondent, carl cameron in boston. virginia has a lot of military jobs. how did romney use that to appeal to old dominion voters today? >> very deliberate, as a matter of fact. he was down in virginia beach, an area where there is lots of military families, active and retired. a big, big part of the economy. also a big part of the economy in northern virginia. around washington, d.c what he was doing was two pronged approach. trying to appeal to pocketbook issues for people who do depend on those types of military-relatessed jobs, but also to american heart strings and make the argument that the american military deserves better support.

and what mr. romney did was essentially take the president to task for the idea of so-called sequestration which refers to the fiscal cliff the government would face in january if no strong steps were taken to cut spending, automatic spending cuts kick in. >> the estimates of the kind of numbers of jobs lost in virginia from these cuts is between 100 and 200,000. it's unthinkable. it's unthinkable to virginia, our employment needs, but also unthinkable to the ability and the commitment of america to maintain our liberty with liberty for all. and therefore, if i'm president of the united states, we'll get rid of those sequestration cuts and rebuild america's military might! [ cheers and applause ] >> romney unveiled a new sort of rhetorical flourish speed going through the pledge line by line and in each sentence trying to find a way to criticize president obama, either for promises unkept or for future plans that he says are

essentially rehashing old failed democratic ideas of the past. >> arthel: we're all counting down, 59 days left. can the campaigns begin to narrow down which swing states they're going to focus on? >> sure. there is about a dozen swing states that they're focusing on during the year. right now there is a safe number of some 20-plus states where mr. romney has an advantage, perhaps a smaller number of states for president obama is safe. but bigger populations. in the electoral college map, it's fairly close. virginia is very much one of them. ohio, and florida, absolutely. down to about seven. the truth is, there will be sort of spotty focus in both places, in many of these states by the campaign, not necessarily at the same time. yesterday was a great example where the president started his day in new hampshire and went to iowa. romney started in iowa and went to new hampshire to campaign. there will be a lot of overlap and a lot of big spending. one of the things that started yesterday was an eight-state ad by the romney campaign that

omitted wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania. that had a lot of tails wagging that maybe they had plans to abandon michigan, his native state, or wisconsin, paul ryan's native state. the romney campaign today saying no. that's going to be plenty of that. we will fight for wisconsin and for michigan. we expect to contest them heavily. the polls are essentially tied and joe biden said he's going to go to wisconsin. that's clearly a sign that the obama campaign thinks they need to defend it. >> arthel: the gloves are coming off for sure. carl cameron, thank you very much. >> rick: president obama also hitting the campaign trail hard today, kicking off the two-day bus tour through florida over the weekend. the president holding two events told in a state he won back in 08, one of the biggest electoral prizes. ed henry traveling with the president live in kissimmee, florida. hi, ed. >> rick: good to see you. you're right, a big prize, 29 electoral vote. the president had it last time. mitt romney had his convention in tampa and so it's interesting

that as carl is talking about how they're shadowing and bracketing one another to the same states, president starts his florida bus tour earlier in the tampa-saint pete area. voters being targeted, military families, today the president stopped off at a cuban sandwich shop. he's obviously appealing to latino voters here, democrats feel they have demographics on their side. growing hispanic population here in florida, colorado, other key battle grounds. also interesting to note that as we go through all this with the president -- what the president is doing after getting the weak jobs report on friday, trying to push the focus away from his own record on the economy and instead make this a choice between and he mr. romney over the next four years. at this rally that wrapped up, he really hit mr. romney on the idea that his policies are way >> our friends at the republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with america, but they didn't have much to say

about how to make it right. they want your vote, but they don't want you to know their plan. >> on some of those specific policies, though, in talking about reaching out to latino voters, the obama campaign hitting mitt romney hard for some of his approaches to immigration reform, worth noting the president back if 2008 promised that he would get immigration reform by the end of the early part of his administration. that never happened obviously. here we are almost four years into the term. that is an issue he's going to have to deal with in the debates no doubt. and he's also worth noting he'll be rolling out a democratic gun next week here in florida. bill clinton, who made a big flash in the democratic national convention will be in miami and orlando next week. >> rick: ed henry live in florida, thanks so much.

>> arthel: an iranian pastor sentenced to death for his faith has been freed. the 35-year-old man was imprisoned for three years in a waiting execution for refusing to renounce his christian faith. today a washington-based watchdog group says he was acquitted of the charges against him and released with time served. coming up later this hour action we'll speak with counter terror analyst and middle east expert lisa baktari about the timing of the release and what this means for other iranian prisoners facing similar charges. >> rick: the pakinstani based haqqani network says the u.s. and nato can expect more attacks after the obama administration's decision to add it to america's list of known terror groups. the haqqanis are blamed for a string of attacks in afghanistan, including an attack earlier today that killed six civilians near nato headquarters in kabul. haqqani network commanders says the group will not harm 26-year-old army sergeant as retaliation.

the u.s. believes the haqqani members captured him, but they say he's being held bay splinter taliban group. >> arthel: major development in the fast and furious investigation. mexican police saying they have arrested a suspect in the murder of u.s. border agent brian terry. he was killed during a shootout with illegal immigrants using the same weapons linked to the government's botched gun running sting. the head of the government's investigation, congressman darrell issa, saying, quote, this is one more step toward justice for the family of fallen border patrol agent brian terry. ultimately not only the bandit who fired the shots, but also those who put the guns in their hands must all be held accountable. peter doocy has more from washington. >> the man is now in the custody of mexican authorities who apprehended him on thursday in sonora state. five men were charged with murder of u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. one was arrested thursday, one is on trial in arizona, three

are still on the loose. authorities aren't saying which man they think fired the fatal shot. but they are saying these five men, all from mexico, allegedly crossed the southern border in december 2010 to rob drug smugglers, only to be spotted by the u.s. border patrol who engaged them in a gun fight that left agent terry dead. investigators soon figured out two of the guns the suspects left behind were linked to a united states justice department sting operation fast and furious, designed to let bad guys buy guns in the u.s. and walk across the bordered with them, with the hope that they would eventually help build cases against the leaders of violent drug cartels examine for months here in washington, the house oversight committee demanded documents from the justice department to try to figure out who is to blame for the failure of this operation, fast and furious. after president obama asserted executive privilege to block most of the documents they wanted, the house still voted to hold attorney general eric

holder in contempt of congress, although the d. o.j. declined to press charges. things have been quiet on the hill for a few weeks, but they should pick up this tuesday, september 11, with a new hearing examining a toj inspector general's report. arthel? >> arthel: peter doocy live in washington. thank you very much. >> rick: quick break, before we go, a live look at lower manhattan. maria molina saying a second tornado confirmed touching down in new york city. the first one in the burrough of queens and more possible tornadoes reported near the nation's capitol. a live look at lower manhattan. the fox extreme weather team all over the latest developments. a live report straight ahead. >> arthel: the dismal jobs report becoming the number one topic on the campaign trail. coming up, our political panel weighing in on the likely damage to the president's reelection hopes. >> i will not pretend that the path i'm offering is quick or easy. anybody who says it is, they're

not telling you the truth. i've never said it was going to be quick and easy. >> he doesn't have a plan. he doesn't have any ideas. we got to make sure he doesn't have any more days in the white house after january.

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>> rick: fox news weather alert. national weather service confirming a second twister touching down in new york city. new tornado warnings issued for massachusetts and new york. this is some video from earlier today showing the first confirmed tornado. this was in the burrow of queens. right now the national weather service is investigating two more reported touchdowns right near our nation's capitol. maria molina has more from the fox weather center. >> good to see you. we have that second tornado now confirmed. up with of the five burroughs of new york city. we had one reported across queens county, in new york, and that was confirmed. that's an ef 0. now we have a confirmed tornado, ef 1 with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour, the earlier tornado at 11:00 a.m. eastern time, this one just 30 minutes later at 11:30 a.m. in new york. that's basically a neighborhood in the southeastern part of brooklyn, new york. again, two confirmed tornadoes in the new york city area

earlier this morning. we're still continuing to see that risk for more severe weather into the nighttime hours tonight across parts of new england, down into the carolinas. i do think the worst of it as far as rotation with some of these storms is over for the new york city area. but we're still seeing some of the heavy rain. we can take a look at times square. you have that and pull that up. where rain is already starting to move into parts of new york city and hopefully everybody has sought shelter because we have a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for new york city because wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour are still possible with this line of storms. as they continue push through the new york city area. so again, a lot of heavy rain, aside from tornadoes or even damaging wind gusts, you have that possibility for large hail with some of these thunderstorms, flash flooding, very heavy rain will come down in a very short amount of time and also very dangerous lightning. i do see some people out there. hopefully they'll head indoors shortly. a lot of heavy rain moving through the new york city area and that's the story as well.

as -- heavy rain in con and massachusetts examine rest of new england as a strong cold front continues to push eastward. the greatest risk area for severe weather is that area shaded in red across eastern parts of upstate new york, parts of vermont, new hampshire, also down into western parts of massachusetts and connecticut. again, shear a look at some the risks, even some tornadoes. behind the system, you'll get very nice weather over the next couple of days moving into the northeast and also the southeast. much lower humidity, much cooler temperatures and that's really the reason why you're seeing that severe weather, because ahead of this system, we have very warm, humid air and when the two air masses crash together, they produce explosive development of thunderstorms. still looking at a number of severe weather watches. we have tornado watches also in effect. you can see the expiration times here. we are still expecting several more hours of possible severe weather. we've had a number of tornado warnings.

none are in effect. we have a line of storms with all of them looking at or producing severe weather warnings across areas east of burlington, vermont, in through parts of basically massachusetts, connecticut, into the new york city area. that severe thunderstorm warning for new york city is in effect until 30 past the hour. again, hopefully everybody is seeking shelter and staying safe tonight. >> rick: let's hope so. thanks so much. >> arthel: just hours after accepting his party's nomination, president obama's celebration was cut short by friday's job numbers. showing just 96,000 jobs were added to our economy last month. governor mitt romney wasted no time calling out the president during a campaign stop in virginia earlier today. listen. >> now with the unemployment level having stuck above 8% for 43 straight months, we remembered that the president promised that if we let him

borrow almost a trillion dollars, he'd never let it reach 8%. it's been above 8% ever since. this president has not fulfilled his promises. >> arthel: so what impact will all of this ha have on the president's chances for a second term, bringing in republican bob mccueen and democrat martin frost, both are former congressmen. good to see both of you. >> good to be with you. >> arthel: congressman frost, i'll start with you. so the new unemployment numbers, do they make it more difficult for the president to keep his job? he on said, the president even said we know it's not good enough. are there any specifics that president obama can give on the campaign trail to convince undecideds to give him more time? >> first of all, remember as bill clinton said at the convention, that we were on the edge of a depression when obama took office. we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every single month. since then you've had over 4 million jobs created. sure, it's not enough. but he turned things around. he made it possible for us to

level off and to head back in the right direction. contrast that with governor romney. his answer seems to be tax cuts for the rich. that's going to security ails of the economy. i saw elaine chao interviewed and she was pressed by your anchor to explain how he was going to pay for these tax cuts, whether he was going to eliminate mortgage interest deductions or charitable deductions and she refused to answer. so romney has a secret plan based on tax cuts for the wealthy. obama has a steady as you go, creating jobs every single month and hope we'll increase and do better. >> arthel: congressman, let me pick up with you. we know the latest unemployment numbers perhaps, will they be an advantage for government romney examine picking up on what congressman frost said, is there some specifics that governor romney has yet to clarify, specifically outline how he is the candidate for the job to create more jobs? >> arthel, the facts speak for

themselves. this president has been the worst economic president in our nation's history. the "new york times" says this morning that 25% more able-bodies males are unemployed now than at the depth of the very great depression. the net worth of the average family has diminished in the last four years, regardless of how bad and how evil george bush was, under this man's watch for the last four years, the average net worth of the average family diminished 40%, taking it back to 1990 levels. he's wiped out two decades of growth. the income, the average income, median income decreased by 10%. not that it was steady, it has decreased 10% under his watch. he's going to talk and dance about -- >> arthel: congressman, pardon me for one moment. but i want to get to specific specific here. having allowed you to highlight those, i want to ask you specifically what is it that governor romney -- >> what should be done. >> the united states has the highest corporate taxes in the world. we say that a couple of times.

zero capital glans. it has the highest in the world. and this president wants to increase it even higher. he wants to double the capital gains tax. all of our competitors in central and eastern europe have zero. this man wants to do exactly the wrong thing. when you tax something, you get less of that thing. if you tax -- you're going to get less -- >> if i can get a word in. the president has come out for lowering the corporate tax rate. everybody agrees the corporate tax rate is too high. it should be reduced from 35 perhaps to 25%. >> then why hasn't he done that? >> let me finish. >> don't get me -- he's been the president for four years, why didn't he do it? >> well, you've had a lot of problems tealing -- dealing with republicans. >> let me be very specific. the romney wants to, if i understand correctly, wants to

eliminate, as ryan does, eliminate the capital gains rate. eliminate the interest deduction. romney, paid 14%. if you eliminated capital gains taxes and eliminated the interest deduction, romney would be paying zero percent taxes. nobody agrees with that. what's his plan? what does he want to do other than lower taxes -- >> arthel: let me jump in and let's for a moment take the pulse of the people. i want to pull up now the latest gallup poll showing the president, that he's getting a bounce from his convention. approval rating at 52%. 42% disapproval rating. so i'll go with you, congressman frost, since you were speaking at that particular time, even with the unemployment rate now at 8.1%, more americans seem to be still happy with the job that the president is doing. so even president obama's campaign manager is saying the

convention bounce is definitely not necessarily a shoe in for it to translate into numbers at the polls. however, i do ask you at this juncture, what do you think the president's chances are for reelection? >> i think he'll be reelected and the republicans didn't get dead cat bounce. you throw a dead cat on the floor and you get a little bounce of the the republicans got zero bounce. obama got some bounce out of his convention. not enough, quite frankly, but he got some. he's ahead. i think the public has confidence that he's the one who stands with the middle class and somehow romney has got to convince people that he's just not for the very wealthy and he's for the middle class and hasn't closed the deal. >> arthel: congressman, i'm going to give you the last word. give me a chance to get the question 'cause i want specifics from you. we know that senator obama took ohio, your state in 2008. can he do it again or will governor romney turn it around? >> well, as you know, whenever you ask a question about the

president who has been in control for the last four years, controlled the senate with more votes than republicans ever had, controlled the house that they always talk about two things, they talk about george bush and mitt romney. they never talk about what they've done and what they're going to do. i trust for the benefit of america that not only ohio but the nation will choose leadership. there is nothing wrong with this country that new leadership couldn't cure. >> arthel: there it is. you have the last word. congressmen, thank you very much. i appreciate the lively debathe and bringing good points up. thank you both. >> rick: all right. let's get back to the weather. we'll talk more about that. causing serious problems all up and down the eastern seaboard. two tornadoes confirmed in new york city today. not unheard of for this area of the country, but it's definitely unusual as we take a live look, the empire state building, the chrysler building in the background on the left side of your screen. two more sightings reported near the capitol. more than 150,000 customers are

without power in the dc area. we've got all the details coming up. >> arthel: also breaking news out of iran. reports that a christian pastor who was sentenced to death for his faith has been released. we have the latest on that for you you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy.

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>> arthel: welcome back. the bottom of the hour, time for the top of the news. severe weather slamminger parts of the east coast. two tornadoes touching down in new york city, including the b. >> rick: the weather service looking at reports of two twisters near washington, d.c. where storms have knocked out power to more than 150,000 people in that area. >> arthel: and in the battle ground state of florida, another kind of storm is brewing. president obama telling supporters that republicans are, quote, dead wrong in saying america is in decline.

>> rick: big story today, christian pastor who was sentenced to death in iran is now a free man. he was initially arrested for failing to renounce his christian faith. he was released today after spending more than three years behind bars. so why now? our middle east expert, good to see you, thanks for talking about this. what an amazing development for this pastor and for his wife and their two young children. why do you think this happened? >> it's really ironic that we're celebrating this wonderful news. it is wonderful news for the pastor, his family, the christian community at large. but you have to consider how upsetting it is that he was held to begin with and how many more individuals like him, christians, other persecuted marginalized groups in iran, photo journalists that are being held. and you question the timing of

this. we can't just give the credit to the islamic republic for being kind and merciful and letting this man go after three years for no charges. we're looking at the canadian embassy cutting diplomatic ties with the regime in iran. we're looking at two weeks from now, the american population is not too consumed with our presidential elections, we'll pay attention to the fact that president ahmadinejab will be prancing around the streets of midtown manhattan when he comes to town for the annual u.n. general assembly. the iranians, the mullahs in tehran are not going to make that with the international community when they know that other things are on the horizon. this is something we've seen from this regime over the last 32 years and even more so since 2009 as political escalation has been high in that country where they push forward and then scale back once there is international pressure on the government.

>> rick: did ahmadinejab have anything to do with this personally, do you think? >> no, he didn't have anything to do with it. actually a provincial court decided the fate. you had many trials before. the case was actually appealed many times where the supreme leader was asked to weigh in. but he refrained from doing so because in cases like these, the mullahs refrain from setting a precedent so that when these cases do come up, they can randomly pick and choose how they want to manipulate these cases, according to what the political situations of the time are. >> rick: interesting. we had the general assembly coming up and continued speculation on what may or may not happen between the u.s., israel and iran over iran's nuclear program you watched this part of the world and study this more than anybody else i know. how do you think this plays out?

what happens with the impasse now? >> this is exactly the game we've been watching. islamic republic iran is playing out the clock. we've been putting pressure on them, isolating them both politically and economically. we've said and president obama has reiterated this many times, all options are on the table. but at the same time, as you said, he is coming to new york in two weeks. so we have to kind of be very much focused and if we make those kinds of punitive threats, then we have to hold by them. so again, this is something to be celebrated for the pastor, for his family, for the community, but again, let's look at the bigger picture here and how the islamic republic is really hipping these situations. and we have to really focus on the bigger picture. >> rick: fox news contributor, lisa, thanks so much. we appreciate your insight. >> my pleasure. >> arthel: with the election less than two months away now, a

new report is raising concerns that the defense department is not providing enough voting assistance on military bases that would violate the 2009 overseas voter empowerment act. now a group of senators is calling for action. medical medical is live in washington. all right. so this law requires voter assistance office on every military base. so is that happening? >> rick: the pentagon inspector general checked on those voter assistance offices and wrote in a report last week that, quote, we attempted to contact 100% of the installations, the bases, results were clear, our attempts to contact ivao's, installation voter assistance offices, failed, about 50% of the time. republican senators cornyn, ayotte, imhoff, chapel business and burr are alarmed by this and say it's a clear violation of the 2009 law which was designed to help servicemen and women register to vote and request an

absentee ballot. in the letter to defense secretary leon panetta, they say d.o.d.'s implementation of the on base voter assistance program has been at best a hollow exercise. many of the on base voter assistance offices that do exist are grossly inadequate and at least half of them are either closed or completely unstaffed. they say the law is, quote, not optional examine that the defense department needs to act immediately to get into compliance. arthel? >> arthel: what is the response from the pentagon? >> the pentagon says there is a simple explanation for all of this. the phone numbers and the e-mail addresses that its inspector general was using were wrong. >> the contact information that they used to try to establish contact with the installation voter assistance offices, very simply was outdated. why was it outdated? because in a military environment, things change. >> secretary panetta has not

responded publicly to the senators' letter. because spokesperson tells the washington times that the secretary will respond to the senators directly. arthel? >> arthel: molly henneberg, thank you very much for that report. >> rick: coming up, a brand-new report we'll tell you about, shows small businesses are not getting the loans they need to succeed. we'll discuss what it's going to take to strengthen the backbone of the u.s. economy. that's straight ahead.

>> rick: arthel was talking about this. disappointing numbers raising fresh concerns about the economy this week. that tough jobs report that came out yesterday followed by news that small business loans rose just 3%. that is nowhere near what the economy needs. another bad sign, small companies are taking longer to pay their bills and a lot of economists say those businesses are the backbone of the u.s. economy. so what's it going to take to get them back on track?

joining us is rich, and a form managing director of morgan stanley. thanks for coming in. so this country would be nothing without its entrepreneurial spirit. yet you say that spirit is sort of gone. >> it's gone, but not forgotten. let's start there first. i think it's just tempered now. our administration has been a -- let's wait and see. think about the core of this packs we talked -- passion we talked about. steve job high school an interesting quote. i'm gog read it. he says here, without passion, any rational person would give up. so with that, if you take had, this core is 28 million corporations and they hold on to 70% of our nation's hiring. yet, they've been forgotten. >> rick: what is a small business? there is a definition, isn't there? >> actually less than a greater less than 500 employees. 500 or less is defined as a small business. however, 80% of those companies are ten employees or less. >> rick: so we heard from the

democrats last week in charlotte. the head of the small business administration talked to the delegates. she said small businesses are doing better today than they were 3 1/2 years ago and said their taxes are lower than they were. she said that they had a better chance of surviving than they did 3 1/2 years ago. what's going on? >> i couldn't disagree with every one of those statements you just said. the five main obstacle, credit is tightening so much, it's not happening. banks are not giving out their money. the health care reform, i don't know where those phrases are coming from. we know it's a great mystery in terms of premiums or what's going to happen. other insurance premiums, insurance carriers are doing so poorly, they're increasing their premiums. payroll taxes at the state level 'cause the states and municipalities are doing so poor, they have to increase the payroll taxes for the unemployed. lastly, regulations, they're so thick, they can't get through it. i don't know where she gets that from. >> rick: so what do we do?

>> frankly, of two create a unit where we take the wonderful packs and fill it. how do we do that? we know we can take tax credits, we can lower them. we can help improve. we can take tax rates and lower them. how about something like this? all the people on the government payroll, unemployment list, those 99 weeks, if we hire them, why not give a tax credit? why not create disposable income for that entrepreneur, 'cause what does an entrepreneur do with disposable income? reinvest and reinvest. remember henry ford's great thoughts, apple, founders great thoughts. of two get that passion. the next apple is there, we just have to find it. >> rick: these were all start-ups before they became so big. >> remember, the founders found that in a garage. so there is someone sitting in their garage watching saying, i want that tax credit. >> rick: it makes sense. you give them a little break and maybe they turn it into the next fortune 500 company. >> that break becomes exponential. it's almost a law of large

numbers. remember half of the companies after five years, small businesses will go out of business, but those that make it, will eventually thrive. >> rick: rich desalvo, good to sigh. thanks very much. arthel? >> arthel: good stuff. switching gears now, my favorite season, fall, is just around the corner. the chilly weather not too far behind. when the mercury drops, how can you keep your heating bill from rising? "consumer reports" has home thermostats and ways you can save the most money. ♪ the temperature is rising ♪ it isn't surprising ♪ you certainly can, can, can ♪ she started the heat wave ♪ >> announcer: with nothing but his computer, an identity thief is able to use your information to open a bank account in order to make your money his money. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock, the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud.

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>> rick: autumn is almost here. >> arthel: i love it. i'll go pick apples. >> rick: i love it, but cold weather comes after it. with the temperature about to drop and energy costs about to go up, how can you stay warm without burning a hole in your wallet? >> arthel: the october issue of "consumer reports" looks into programmable thermostats. some models can save money, but others not so much. daniel is here. >> rick: thanks for coming in. >> arthel: so you brought this three models. we'll start with this -- lux. you consider this your "consumer

reports" best buy at 70 bucks? >> yeah. -- tested 30 in all. this is one of the best. this winter your probably going to get your money back on energy savings if you replace your manual dial thermometer with this device here. >> rick: what's so good about it? >> well, the cost. that's the best thing. it's pretty plain jane design. the graphics are not what you're going to see with sop of the other models. but but also not have some of the smart features with the other two devices. >> arthel: this is 170 bucks. you said this is top rated. why? >> $170. unfortunately, we can't turn it on, but it has color graphics. the proms, as you're setting up the device, crystal clear. it's virtually impossible to misuse. so you're pretty much guaranteed the savings which can be as much as $180. >> rick: wow that. could be a problem. a lot of these things are so

complicated. we were discussing a minute ago that if you don't use them correctly, you end up overusing them or using them wrong and you end up with higher bills. >> that's exactly right. we found many devices that were so confusing, you will have that. >> rick: this one looks like the fanniest one. >> arthel: this is for the techy. >> very much for the techies. it's $270. so it's a whole different ball game there. relative to the others. it's a learning thermostat. what that means is you install this over the course of a week -- >> rick: a rolling thermostat. >> you'll have to plug information in about how high and low you want the temperature in the home to go. but from there, you just let it do its thing and it is going to automatically change lower and raise the temperature in your home throughout the day. >> arthel: this will send you e-mails and everything, right? >> yeah. very smart. wi-fi enabled. you can receive updates throughout the day if you want.

that's a consideration. do you really want to be hearing from your thermostat throughout the day? make sure you do before you spend $270. >> arthel: we know that all of this is very important because it can save money. here is a question, can anybody put these things in? can anybody install or do you have to call a professional? >> if you are simply swapping out your old thermostat and putting one of these in, it's pretty straightforward. there is just a couple of voltage wires you need to hook up. however, if you're moving the thermostat, that's where it gets more complicated. at that point, it's a good idea to call in a professional. >> rick: that's interesting. does it matter where you place them? if you are going to install it, is there an optimal place in the house? >> another great question. there is. you want it away from -- on an interior wall away from windows and doors where drafts could potentially interfere with the sensors and drive up or down the temperature and cost you money there. >> arthel: is one of these better for one particular family, depending on your lifestyle? >> sure. we talked about this -- one of

the first questions is do you want to name the thermostat so you can give it a name. gives you an idea. it's an experience that they're going for. again, make sure you want that experience before you -- >> rick: i have a key question. what about a thermostat for husbands examine wives who each like a different temperature in the home? >> arthel: excuse me for one second, let me explain to you one or two difference degree temperatureses makes a world of a difference. >> rick: whatever. i guess they haven't figure that had one out yet. >> arthel: don't answer on that. thank you very much. >> rick: thank you, daniel. we want to remind you that keep watching the weather system moving through the east coast of the country. live pictures in new york city where two confirmed tornadoes touched down today. >> arthel: and harris faulkner is up next with the fox report. she's staying on top of that and all of today's politics for you. >> rick: bye-bye. yes i do. i want you to keep this.

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